Charlie Townsend
CRYSTAL SPRINGS DAILY NEWS, week of October 12, 2009 We all know that Crystal Springs is a growing city with many growing opportunities. However, it hasn't until recently garnered the attention of some of the International business owners. Charles Townsend, owner of a long-standing investment banking firm in London, has decided to try his luck in expanding to the United States. This Monday, the doors open for the first time, headed by Townsend's youngest son and namesake, Charles Townsend, Jr. The city of Crystal Springs watches with interest to see if this young up-and-coming can hold up to the reputation and success of his father. History Early Days Charlie was born into a very large family, but one that he never knew very well. His father was a distant entity, a corporate mastermind and one of the wealthier families in the area. He grew up lacking absolutely nothing; money was absolutely no issue, and all the children were spoiled horribly from the time they were born, but none moreso than Charlie himself. The family was one of wealthy, pure-bred Silver Fang kin that dated back generations, but had no luck in any of those generations in producing a Garou child, and the Baptism of Fire that was performed when the child was born pronounced him to be the first Garou born of the Townsend family in the past one hundred years. Because of this, the child was treated to everything imaginable. He was coddled from birth, the pride of his parents, and grew up with a strict regime of education, etiquette, and mingling with the wealthy. He did not precisely know the specifics of his birth until he was a little older, but he was taught the expectations of honor and propriety from a very early age nonetheless. His parents were older; he had five siblings and was the youngest of these; the eldest brother was eighteen and leaving for Oxford the year Charlie was born, and they were fairly evenly spaced after. His second-eldest brother was fifteen, the next youngest sister twelve, the next youngest brother eight, and the one sister closest to him was three. The first three were born of a separate mother, and were only half siblings; their mother, being garou, had died young as they are wont to do and his father remarried. This woman was another Silver Fang, a kinfolk of rich and pure breeding much like their lines. Primarily, he was raised by tutors, teachers, and his family's staff. He got along well with his siblings, particularly the sister closest in age and his eldest two brothers. His father was always a very distant entity, usually a force brought out when punishments were threatened. The youngster saw very little of his father until his twelfth birthday, when he was indoctrinated into Garou society and he learned what he would become. Strangely, this didn't excite the child very much, and instead left him with a great amount of trepidation for the day he would change, longing and desperately wishing he wouldn't grow older. When he reached sixteen without his first chance, he began furtively hoping that his father had been mistaken, but, no, his father was very much right and he began to show the incipient signs of the coming change despite his denial of it. The Curse On the outside looking in, the Townsends looked to be a normal family, or as normal as such wealthy families get. They were the envy of many of the Silver Fang families for both their purity and their stainless reputation, and in the mortal community were often talked about. This ranged from admiration to jealousy, and even occasionally the wrong sort of attention (Charles Sr. travels with bodyguards for a reason). On the inside, however, there were some dark dealings around Charlie's birth. Charles Sr. was always a perfectionist and was always the pride of his father and his family. There were those that said if any were more capable of breaking the family's streak of bad luck it was he, and perhaps this went to his head, or perhaps he really was that desperate to leave his mark on the family name. Either way, after the birth of his fourth child, he was growing older and he didn't exactly intend to press his second wife (who he did love dearly, but who also did not handle pregnancy and childbirth well at all) into many more children; he grew desperate. However, this desperation culminated in him going to lengths that were a bit shady. A local figure had a local reputation for being able to predict births. He was a creepy old man who often made those around him very uncomfortable, and schoolyard rumors were wild about him dealing with witchery and whatnot. (The local kids often made games of running to his door, knocking, and betting each other they could not stand there until he answered.) The truth was, this old man was a Mage, an old Verbena who had long given in to the call of other gods and became Nephandim. There was no way Charles could have known the truth, but regardless he did not think to have him checked out by anyone before he made Deals. These Deals were dangerous and shady, involving blood sacrifice and basically enough money for this man to live on. The deal was struck and made, and the child's fate was altered and set in stone. They went their separate ways. The Mage, who only let himself be known Mordecai, kept an eye on the family and the child, and took a deep, morbid amusement when the curse he had laid into place when the child's Fate was sealed began to emerge. It began when his first Change occurred. Garou Life Charlie's first change happened fairly harmlessly, as it had been expected, and he was pulled in for cubhood with the nearby Sept. Having been taught things early and not being expected to get right into the battle on the front lines (that was, after all, the purpose of the ahroun and the lesser bred; those of noble lines were born to be the leaders, the strategists, and the men behind the curtain), his cubhood was fairly short and uneventful, though he still deeply preferred the human forms to the more fuzzy ones, and only took to them when he absolutely had to. The aforementioned Curse began rearing its head around this time, though he had no idea what it meant or even what it was, and even perhaps accepted it as a part of his new supernatural existence. It began as a feeling of something watching. Eyes in the closet, monsters in the closet, under the bed, outside the window. As can be predicted, this made the recently-changed kid paranoid, and his sudden fear of the dark made no sense to his parents or his mentors, but hey, Silver Fangs often have odd quirks in today's day and age that others politely look the other way from... However, it slowly got worse. Charlie thought he was going crazy for a time; it was like something out of a cheap horror film. Things moving around, lights flickering, shadows at the corner of your eye. Once he made cliath, he was allowed to continue his studies, mostly through a series of kin in the education system. After finishing up with Secondary, he went on to one of the divisions of the massive University of London to complete his degree; he got a dual degree in Business and Finance and a minor emphasis on Communication. However, this also delayed his challenging a little, as he was busy with other things. Eventually, however, he was pressed into a challenge for Fostern at 21. His Fostern challenge was fairly involved, but not necessarily difficult, as it played to his strengths. There was a corporation taking roots in town that had quite a bit of money flowing through it, and was known to be Wyrmy. Invading it was impossible; the building was staffed by mundanes and mortals just as much as it was headed by the Wyrm. His challenge was in bringing this cooperation down. It took a lot of subtle finagling and micromanaging and some aggressive maneuvers, but he managed it over time. Doing so mostly revolved around pulling strings to pull the financial support for the company out from under their feet and bring them down and force bankruptcy. And, when you have the force of a long-time investment company behind it... well, there's only so much an up-and-coming company can do. They struggled, but they were eventually forced to go under. Now, this was only one small arm of the much-larger Pentex, but for now it kept that one part out of the Sept's territory. He was deemed successful and given the rank. Because of all this and having to work around his challenge and garou-related things, he didn't actually get his degree until Spring of 2009, when he was 24. When he was 20, and right before his challenge, a marriage was arranged. He was given a woman to marry; he barely knew her at all, but it proved to be a decently adequate match, and they had a child soon after. A daughter, and she was kin. Despite the marriage not necessarily being a bad one, it was a fairly loveless one; she cared about him enough, but she was wary over the fact that he was Garou, and he dully resented the fact that she was on some level afraid of him. His daughter, however, was doted on, and was a great pride of his. Most recently, the curse has gotten worse yet; he's been woken up twice with marks written on things, and whatever dark entities that are stalking the boy have also began attracting Wyrm creatures, inciting more than one attack, though so far they have been small and few and far between. He finally brought all this to his father, who finally worriedly spoke about the circumstances of his birth. Predictably, he was furious, and the usually mild-mannered philodox had to leave as the rage threatened to overtake him. However, he has yet to fully make the connection; he went to seek out the old man, but it was discovered that he had died a few years before. He suspects, but he does not know. Regardless, the newly spawned family issues in addition to the risk of the curse, it was decided that Charlie leave until he had figured things out, especially given that he did not want to put his daughter at risk. The marriage was ended, though not on unpleasant terms (really, she was a little relieved and later went on to date a kinfolk, though she maintains contact with him). His father, perhaps as a measure of apology, sent him on to the United States and offered to get him set up there. After all, this one Sept was in dire need of leadership, enough bad things had happened there recently, and it had a reputation for healing. Things were arranged and a flight was booked. Personality Charlie can be a hard sort to get to know. Jaded and distrusting in the way of family, the Fang doesn't have much belief in love or the sanctity of marriage. This isn't to say he's a jerk; he's really a bit of a hopeless romantic trapped in a mind that believes it can never really be true. To him, family has often been more of a business arrangement than actual family, and he still resents having to be away from the one family member (his daughter, who is now four) that he actually cared deeply for. Outside of this, he's mild-mannered and charismatic, a decently strong leader and a good speaker. He's intelligent (not genius-level, but he's very well-versed in the things he does know about) and a strong businessman, even at his young age. He values appearance, can be slightly vain and occasionally superficial, and is very rarely seen when out of sorts. He drinks a bit heavily sometimes, especially recently. He's more ambitious in mortal dealings than supernatural ones, and would honestly prefer to set garou life aside and just be kin, and deeply resents his father for pushing this life on him. He's a casual sort, well-settled in his wealth enough not to flaunt it, though it can often seem as though he does just because of his thoughtless manner of buying things on whims. For the curse, he's desperately finding a way to end it before it gets any worse, or brings things down on his head that would hurt those around him. He has a mild aversion to direct combat, but when he must he's as honor-bound as most Silver Fangs. A well-fought duel is much more important and respectful in his eyes than sneaky, quick kills, even though he doesn't much like stepping into the violence himself. He doesn't like guns very much, but this is really more of a mortal distaste than aversion to the Weaver. He's a strong mediator, good at talking, willing to step in and keep the peace. The weirder parts of the curse, the manifestations in the real world of the milder signs of it, have about become commonplace to him. He still wakes up in a cold sweat sometimes and has a healthy dose of caution, but it has become more of an annoyance nowadays. A window opening or a light flickering or a door slamming may be met with exasperation rather than fear. Miscellaneous Play List: * Tranquilize - The Killers Trivia *Birthdate: October 3, 1984 *Astrological Sign: Libra *Chinese Zodiac: Rat Logs Livejournal Family, Friends, Contacts Prominent Family: * Elizabeth Townsend: ''Daughter, four years old, Silver Fang kinfolk. Still lives with her mother in England. He often views her as one of the good things to come out of his marriage. Despite being away from her, he makes an attempt to be a good father, since his was often such a non-entity in his life. * ''Joanna Hargrave: Ex-Wife, still considered a friend of sorts. They get along fine, they just aren't suited to being together; she's scared of Garou just on an instinctual level. Silver Fang kinfolk. * Charles Townsend, Sr.: Father. Relationship very strained at best. * Vivian Townsend: Mother. Somewhat better than his father, but still distant. * Brendan Townsend: Eldest half-brother, now 43 and a successful lawyer. Not very close due to the huge generation gap, but probably one of the friendlier relations he has with a family member. Has one son, kinfolk. * Emery Townsend: Full brother closest in age; he's 33, has remained a bit of a playboy throughout the years, and has leaned on their father without too much working himself. Him and Charlie are reasonably close nowadays, and probably the sibling he communicates the most with regularly. * Hailey Windsor: ''Sister closest in age; she's 28 and went on to shun the family fortune and went into acting, much to the chagrin of their father. She hasn't done too well, but seems happy. She has a husband (who is human and not kinfolk at all) and no children. She's a voice of reason in Charlie's life, and frequently checks up on him to make sure he hasn't completely fallen into the trap of what his father wanted them all to become. '''Friends/Acquaintances': *[[Dimitri Phoenix|'Dimitri Phoenix']] - Charlie's dad cut a deal with Dimitri's agent, and Charlie sort of got stuck in the middle of it: "Hey, kiddo, treat him well, we got a great deal going here." Now, Charlie has a rock star living under his roof, and it's something he's a little unsure about just yet. Still, the guy seems to be nice, and they can at least understand each other. Sheet Backgrounds: ''' Free 3 points of PB, +2 PB = 4 BGs Res 3 = 3 BGs '''45 Freebies 2 Resources for Res 5 2 Allies 2 Contacts 2 Rites 2 Influence 4 WP 4 Gnosis 12 abilities 5 Per 5 Sta 5 Manip --- 45 Notes on Stats/Abilities Manipulation: Persuasion. Charisma: Classy charmer sort. Appearance: It's less raw sex appeal and more classy: well-dressed, put together, confident, and polite. Rage 2: He wasn't meant to be a Garou; he would have been kin if it hadn't been for the intervention of the Nephandi. Thus, he really didn't develop as much rage as his auspice is usually noted for. Drive:He's had hot little sports cars since he was sixteen. One does dumb things and eventually learns something. Etiquette: He was born into fairly high society, and has the charisma and know-how to fit seamlessly into most black-tie affairs. Melee: He has a background in Fencing (foil, sabre, and epee, though primarily the latter two) that began in his school days, but has always kept it at least somewhat honed. Most of his abilities are more competitive than truly serious, but he could theoretically handle a sword alright in combat. He does, actually, have two proper sabres that his father gave him upon reaching Fostern, but he rarely uses them; one is normal sized, and the other sized appropriately for a crinos. Performance: Piano, mostly classical. Research: His ability to get information is heavily dependent on contacts and money. He has a bit of oomph in the financial world and is able to do occasionally Get What He Wants without much difficulty, provided he knows where to go to get it. Academics: Communications. Linguistics: French. Lore: Garou. Allies/Contacts: *''Charles Townsend, Sr''. Ally. Despite the fact he's Charlie's father, he's just as likely to tell the boy to figure out something on his own than help him out. He also won't do anything that would put the business at risk. He loves his son, but is a business man through and through, even in familial things. However, he's a strong and powerful influence and has money to throw at things and has Ways to get information. *''Eric Reid, Ph.D., Professor at the University of London, also Glass Walker kinfolk.'' Contact. Professor in the Business and Communications department and someone he struck up a solid relationship with throughout school. This man tutored him quite often, and serves as a liason to the Glass Walkers of the city. Also a good point of reference for research, and can serve to hook him up with people who can get information. *Other contacts include general business-related things, usually of other related companies that his father has built good relations with. Merits/Flaws Corporate CEO: Fairly obvious. He owns an American subdivision of his father's investment firm. Media Ties: You live under the shadow of a huge corporation all your life, you get to know some reporters and journalists, and often have some sway over what's reported, especially when you have the money to back it up. Compulsion: If he starts something, he has to finish it or he'll obsess about it until he can. He hates being dragged away from something, and has been known to stay up all night just to finish something he started. This makes him very efficient, but it can also make life difficult if things pop up in the middle of things (he's almost incapable of setting things aside for a later time). Enemy: The head of the Pentex cooperation he brought down. This isn't a huge player nor anyone with extreme power, but he has enough to make life uncomfortable should he find out where he is. This man is Nephandi, and has quite a bit of information on Charlie and his family. Luckily, he hasn't acted on it. Yet. Curse: This has been mostly outlined above, but to put it into specifics, this is essentially a curse that basically invites things to mess with him. Spirits, ghosts, demons, wyrm-critters. Yes, it can be potentially nasty. It's not meant to be anything outright deadly, but it could certainly escalate in nasty ways. How could he solve it? There are a few ways, including the death of the person who made the pact (his father), and powerful spiritual intervention. It might also be able to be untied by a Life4+ Mage. Derangement Since Charlie was meant to be kin, his doesn't manifest as strongly as it could. However, he's got a decently persistent case of insomnia; he gets around this to some degree with medication, but it's always been something that's annoyingly persistent. There's been many a time where he's spent sleepness nights doing mindlessly mundane activities or working on paperwork. A drink or two often serves to put him out as well, and it's to this end that he often drinks a bit more than he should (though it's not a Problem. Yet, anyway). Recent Happenings Category:Idle PCs Category:Silver Fangs Category:Fostern Category:Philodoxen